Messes of Contradiction

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Clare Beamsreflects on her impressions of Little Women as a child and an adult at Ploughshares. A piece of her essay: “Of course, none of the real Alcott sisters could have fit into the spaces Little Women carved out for them. No real person could…. Real-life girls are messes of contradiction.” You could also read Deena Drewis’sessay on the perception of women’s writing and gender bias in publishing.

"For example, I don’t feel that catharsis in a play necessarily takes place during the course of a play. Often it should take place afterward." The Paris Reviewoffers a manuscript page from playwright Edward Albee, who died this past weekend. See also: this amazing piece of lore behind the titling of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Hungarian author and 2002 Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertészannounced his retirement, reports Nicolas Gary in the French publication ActuaLitté. (Link to Google's translation into English.) As a "gesture of reconciliation" the Fatelessness author and Holocaust survivor has decided to give nearly 35,000 of his papers to the Academy of Arts in Berlin. Meanwhile, Kertész has recently had several of his shorter works released in handsome Melville House editions. (h/t Hari Kunzru)